The Communities We Serve: Dr. Michael Millis and Dr. Brian Williams

How do we begin to paint a more complex picture of health, one that considers the economy at large, one’s housing situation, environmental justice, and more? In this month’s episode, Jen Vigneswaran sits with transplant surgeon Dr. Michael Millis and trauma surgeon Dr. Brian Williams to discuss these questions and how they apply to the patient population served by UChicago Medicine. They explore how implicit bias shows up in the clinic, the significance of UChicago Medicine’s trauma center for the South Side community, and how caregivers can incorporate a more holistic approach to improving patient health.

Dr. Michael Millis is a Professor of Surgery and the Vice Chair of Global Surgery at UChicago Medicine. He is an expert in adult and pediatric transplant surgery. Dr. Millis is also a pioneer of new techniques for liver operation. His innovations have helped the University of Chicago perform more liver transplants than any other program in the region over the past 15 years.

Dr. Brian Williams is a Professor of Surgery at UChicago Medicine. He’s also a founding program director of the adult surgical critical care fellowship. He is currently writing his first book, Race, Violence, & Medicine: A Memoir.

“Deep Cuts: Exploring Equity in Surgery” comes to you from the Department of Surgery at UChicago Medicine. Our host is Dr. Jen Vigneswaran. Our senior producer is Tony Liu. Our engineer is Paul Braun. Our podcast cover art comes to you from Pombie Silverman, episode art from Sam Higgins, and music from Sen Morimoto off of Sooper Records. 

A special thanks this week to the Department of Surgery’s Julian Owens and Jan Spicer.

Find more about our work at surgery.uchicago.edu.